The Battle For First Place

By: Alexis Shelton

Monaca, Pa- The women's softball team of Penn State Beaver (21-16, 14-1 PSUAC) played their last home game of the regular season this afternoon against Penn State Mont Alto (Mont Alto, Pa); a game that was a battle for first place in the PSUAC tournament.

The game started out scoreless, as great defense from both teams kept the score at zero until the fourth inning. Myranda Raymond (Brashear/Pittsburgh, Pa) started off the Lady Lions with a hit out to left field recording a double. With two outs, senior Jamie Karpinski (Quigley/Beaver Pa) hit a single out to right field; recording a RBI and scoring in Raymond. Rachel Borrell (Downington East/Downington, Pa) singled after and Karpinski stole second. Karpinski scored after thanks to an error by the left fielder, and Beaver went into the fifth 2-0. Mont Alto responded however, with a two RBI homerun from one of their players and quickly took the lead 3-2 going into the bottom of the fifth. Freshman Sydney Brinton (Brashear/Pittsburgh, Pa) recorded her second homerun of the season with a single homerun to open up the bottom of the sixth inning. Mont Alto couldn't find anymore offense in the seventh, so going into the bottom of the seventh, things relied on the players of Beaver. Ashley Watkins (Seneca Valley/Cranberrry Township, Pa) popped up to the short stop in the beginning of the inning. Raymond reached first on an error by the ss, and with two outs, the game depended on pitcher Korey Freyermuth (Perry/Pittsburgh, Pa). with two strikes, Freyermuth grounded a ball out to center field, scoring in Raymond, and ending the game. In the victory, Freyermuth pitched seven innings, giving up five hits, allowing three runs and strikingout 10.

Game two was cancelled due to rain.

With this victory, the Lady Lions host the PSUAC tournament and go into the tournament with the number one seed. They also take the regular season title with at 14-1 record in the conference.

Beaver will play Penn State Hazelton (Hazelton, Pa) Sunday, May 6, 2012 at 2 p.m. at home.